US video game guru heads for space as tourist

American millionaire video game guru Richard Garriott followed in his astronaut father's footsteps Sunday, blasting off aboard a Russian rocket to become the world's sixth space tourist.

Sealed inside the Soyuz TMA-13 capsule together with a Russian cosmonaut and US astronaut, Garriott was catapulted towards the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur base in the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan at 0701 GMT.